Esperienze di pellegrinaggio e «cooperazione tra santi» nell'Occidente basso-medievale (secc. XI-XIII)

Abstract

Hagiographic writing plays a central role in the processes of promotion and legitimization of sanctoral cults. The hagiographer, when he writes the life of a saint or collects his miracula, uses precise strategies to legitimize the cult aimed at demonstrating the virtue of the saint and, implicitly, his superiority over other saints. In the context of the pilgrimage, an interesting example of these dynamics is offered by what we could call «cooperation between saints». Specifically, these are all those episodes in which a pilgrim in search of healing is exhorted by the saint to whom he has turned with devotion, to go on pilgrimage to another saint, since only the latter is empowered by God to heal. The aim of this article is to develop the theme of «cooperation between saints» in Latin-medieval hagiographic literature and, in particular, to evaluate the consistency of this dynamic – rhetorical-narrative first of all, but also symbolic and cultural – in the context of pilgrimages and devotional practices carried out by pilgrims at the pignora sanc torum. The sources used are mainly hagiographic stories (in particular translationes and libri miraculorum) written in the medieval West between the 11th and 13th centuries. Among the cults examined, that of St Faith, St Appiano, St Leonard, St Nicola and St Stefano in Venice, St Menna of Sannio.